The present invention relates to a system including a method for capturing resources (such as images, data, and others) in broadcast and a method for capturing resources in data communication.
Conventionally, the method of capturing resources (videos, data, and others) through broadcast differs from the method of capturing resources through communications, viewed from application layers. Application developers must program applications by always considering broadcast and communications. Enormous efforts are imposed on application developers.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional method of capturing broadcast streams. Referring to FIG. 6, an application 601 decides whether or not a broadcast resource receiver 604 or a communication resource receiver 605 is used and then captures a broadcast stream using the resultant route. The broadcast resource receiver 604 is an apparatus having the function corresponding to a TV tuner while the communication resource receiver 605 is an apparatus having the function corresponding to a modem.
In order to decide the route for capturing a broadcast stream, the application 601 judges whether or not the broadcast receiver 604 will be able to receive in future a broadcast stream to be captured by a certain method and then decides whether or not the broadcast resource receiver 604 or the communication resource receiver 605 are used based on the result.
Application 601 interfaces with broadcast resource capture section 602 via capture broadcast resource specification interface 606. Broadcast resource capture section 602 is connected to broadcast resource receiver 604 via broadcast resource receptor control circuit 608.
Application 601 interfaces with communication resource capture section 603 via capture communication resource specification interface 607. Communication resource capture section 603 is connected to communication resource receiver 605 via communication resource reception control circuit 609.
When it is decided that the broadcast resource receiver 604 captures a broadcast stream, the broadcast resource receiver 604 waits until a capturable time, then receives a broadcast stream, and stores it into a temporary storage device. When it is decided that the communication resource receiver 605 captures a broadcast stream, the communication resource receiver 605 is connected to the server storing the broadcast stream and hands over the identifier of the broadcast stream to be captured by the application 601, and then captures the broadcast stream in agreement with the identifier.
Where a broadcast stream is captured according to the conventional technique, the application 601 must clearly recognize an identifier for identifying its broadcast stream. The identifier now has a name inherent to a system including the application 601. Hence, it is difficult that an arbitrary application captures the same broadcast stream unless a human judgment is provided.
All the capture routes for a broadcast stream are decided by the application 601. However, it is difficult that a language having only a low-level structure such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) in the World Wide Web technology makes a sophisticated judgment.
Moreover, even when a broadcast stream to be captured is formed of plural streams bridging program frames, the application 601 must recognize the situation. Hence, it is difficult to realize such a broadcast stream using the language structure such as HTML.